Jessa plugged her iPod as she climbed off her Hawk and turned the volume to full. She wanted to avoid any unwanted questions about the dark bruise that formed on her neck overnight.
She got to her desk and stuck into her paperwork. It was a while later that an earbud was tugged from her ear, cutting off Highway to Hell midway through.
"Hey." She exclaimed, turning to face whoever ruined the great song. "What do you want?" She asked a little harsher than she intended.
"Woah, I was just going to ask if you'd seen Hotch today." Morgan asked, his smirk fading.
Jessa sighed and pulled out the other earbud, switching her music off, "What makes you think I know where he is?"
He held his hands up in a surrender gesture, "Just asking. He's late."
"He usually beats me in." JJ explained from where she sat on Morgan's desk, "And if he doesn't, he's never any later than eight."
Reid just stared at her expectantly from his own desk.
Jessa was saved from any more questions when her name was called from behind.
She swivelled her chair to see Strauss, the Section Chief. Her perfectly combed blonde hair and perfectly pressed suit gave off an air of importance, and her stiff posture did nothing to countermand it. "A word."
"Yes, ma'am." Jessa stood and followed her away from the bullpen and to her office.
The office was spacious with large windows letting in a glorious amount of sunlight. Strauss marched purposefully to the large wooden desk and sat behind it, gesturing for Jessa to take the seat opposite.
Strauss clasped her hands on the desk in front of her and stared straight at Jessa with icy grey eyes. "How are you feeling?" Her soft, concerned tone was not what Jessa was expecting given the harshness that her face portrayed.
"I'm fine, thank you, ma'am."
"Good news." She smiled warmly, "Agent Hotchner was discharged this morning, and he'll be returning tomorrow."
Jessa nodded, she still wasn't sure why she there.
"I've been keeping a close eye on you, Agent Winchester. You're good at your job."
"Thank you, ma'am."
"Of course, I must admit, I was a little shocked when your name came across my desk as the BAU's latest hire."
"Ma'am?"
"Your father was a friend." She explained, "He served under my ex-husband in the Marines."
"Oh, I didn't realise."
Strauss smiled, "It was a long time ago, dear." She stood from her desk and walked over to the large window and leaned against it, "I haven't seen John for many years. The last time I saw to him was more than twenty years ago. Just after your mother died, actually. The four of you came to stay with me and Frank."
Jessa just stared at the woman. She may have been their boss, but she very rarely made an appearance and yet here she was reminiscing like they were good friends.
"I've spoken to him quite a few times since then. Only when he needs something from me, of course." She chuckled lightly, "Sometimes he says the darndest things, one could argue that he was crazy."
"But not you?" Jessa frowned. Strauss' tone suggested that she was trying to tell her something without saying it.
"No, not me." She smiled as she recalled a memory, "He saved my life that week—the week you all stayed. I never would have believed him if I hadn't seen it myself."
"Seen what, ma'am?"
"That isn't the point, Jessamine." Her gaze turned serious again, "It was him, wasn't it?"
"I'm sorry?" She tried her best not to correct the woman that signed her pay checks and tell her not to call her Jessamine.
"Last night." She walked back to the desk and pushed a file in front of Jessa, "I read the report. There's three bullets unaccounted for—there was someone else there. It was John, wasn't it?"
Jessa nodded hesitantly.
"Thought so. He always did everything he could to protect you kids." Strauss took the report. "Don't worry about this, it'll be like he was never there."
"Thank you, ma'am."
The motherly expression was back, "I've been doing this for John for years."
Jessa sensed the end of the conversation and stood to go. She had her hand on the doorknob when Strauss spoke again.
"Oh, and Jessamine?"
"Yes?"
She opened a drawer and pulled out Jessa's gun, "You'll be needing this."
"Thank you." She strapped the gun to her holster and left the room.
When she got back to the bullpen she noticed her teammates in the same positions they were in when she left, with the addition of Gideon. Judging by the way they abruptly stopped talking when she approached, they were being briefed about last night's events.
"Don't stop on my account." She said, sitting down at her desk.
"Are you ok?" JJ asked, her expression soft and concerned.
"Fine."
"It's ok not to be." Morgan said, "I mean, you shot someone last night. That's gotta weigh on you."
"I'm fine, I mean it." She said trying—and failing—to keep the annoyance out of her voice. "I've been cleared."
"That's… good news." Gideon phrased it more of a question, but Jessa pretended it wasn't.
"What'd Strauss want?" Reid asked curiously, "She didn't look happy."
"I think that's just her face." JJ said with a small laugh.
The comment made Jessa smile and relax a little, "She just wanted to give me my gun back."
"Great, so now you can work like the rest of us." Morgan joked.
"Speaking of, I better get back to it. Hotch won't like it if we all slacked off when he wasn't here." JJ laughed, getting up and walking back towards her office.
"I've also got a lot to do." Gideon declared before walking away.
Jessa returned to her work, feeling a lot lighter than she did when she first got there.
"Winchester." Her head snapped up when she heard her name. She looked around to find JJ standing by her desk. "Did you want lunch? I'm heading to the deli down the street."
"That would be amazing, JJ, thank you."
The other Agent just smiled and walked toward the elevator.
Jessa put her head back down to work, but was interrupted a moment later by her phone buzzing in her pocket.
"Winchester." She answered without pausing to glance at the caller ID.
"Jessa, its Sam."
"Hey, how goes the case?"
"Finished it last night."
"So you're on your way back?"
"Sure are."
"Great!"
"Great? A little enthusiastic, Jessa."
She shrugged before she realised that her little brother couldn't see her, "A lot's happened since you left."
"Like?"
"I'll explain when you get back." She told him.
"Yeah, we're only a couple of hours out. Should beat you back."
"You know where the key is, right?"
"Yep."
There was a short silence before Jessa asked, "Hey, what was she like?"
"Who?"
"The ex. The one that called."
Sam chuckled, "She's nice. Way out of Dean's league."
That made Jessa laugh, "Yeah?"
"Totally."
"Alright, I gotta get back to work."
"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later."
"Yep." She hung up.
When Jessa got home the Impala was sitting in the drive. She pulled the Hawk to a stop beside it and walked into her house to find Dean glowering at her, the trunk of photos she had gotten from their old house in Kansas lay open on the couch.
She cast a quick glance at Sam, who was sitting stoic on the arm chair.
Dean's expression turned from anger to concern when he took in the sight of the ugly bruise on her neck, "J, what happened?" He asked in his all too familiar 'big brother' tone. He always took on the big brother role, despite the fact that he was almost twelve minutes younger than her.
"I'm fine, just a demon." She told them, tossing her keys and phone on the counter and shrugging off her jacket.
"Just?" Sam said, "Jessa, are you ok?"
"It was nothing I couldn't handle."
"You exorcised it?" Dean asked, shock seeping into his tone.
"I wasn't about to let him get away." She said, trying to make him feel stupid for even asking the question. "Why wouldn't I?"
"I don't know, I just figured that you aren't a hunter anymore."
"Dean, this isn't the kind of life you walk away from." She told him, "I may be doing other things, but I'll always be a hunter whether I want to be or not."
There was an uncomfortable silence, which Jessa used to kick her shoes off and lock her gun away.
"When were you going to tell us about this?" The hurt in Sam's voice caught her a little off guard.
"I don't know." She answered honestly, "I went to the old house, while I was in Lawrence."
"Why?" Dean's voice echoed Sam's hurt.
"We were canvassing, and I ended up there. The woman that lives there recognised my name from the back of one of the photos."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Sam asked, the hurt reflecting in his large brown eyes.
"I don't know." She answered honestly. "I think I always planned to, I just wanted to have something that was just mine. You know, from before." From before we were turned into soldiers.
Dean nodded, understanding what she meant. Sam, however, still looked a little hurt.
"I haven't even gone through it." She admitted. "I opened it once. Took out a photo but that was it." She nodded towards her open bedroom door, where a frame was sitting on her nightstand. In it was the picture of the whole family, not long before Mary had been taken from them.
Dean sat back down on the couch and motioned for Jessa to sit beside him. The three siblings began going through the family photos and keepsakes in the trunk.
They had gotten to the bottom, and Jessa reached in and pulled out a small black box. She opened it and found a silver charm bracelet.
"What the heck?" She said it more to herself than anything.
"What?" Sam asked, peering over to see what she had.
"It's a charm bracelet." She explained, "But these are all protection charms."
"So?" Dean asked, "Dad's a Hunter."
Jessa turned it over in her hands, eyeing each charm. When she got to the clasp, she noticed something engraved on the small surface. "MC."
"What?"
"It has MC engraved on the clasp."
"Mary Campbell?" Sam offered, "That was Mom's maiden name."
"Yeah, but why would Mom have a bracelet like that?" Dean asked, with a scoff.
"Maybe Dad gave it to her?" Sam tried.
Jessa shook her head, "Dad didn't start hunting until after she died." She looked in the box and noticed a folded piece of paper. Gently, Jessa took it from the box and unfolded it. "It's a note. To our dearest Mary on her fifteenth birthday." She read, "May this always keep you safe, and remind you where you came from. All our love, Mom and Dad."
"Wait, Mom was a hunter?" Dean said incredulously, "That doesn't make any sense."
Jessa was silent, at a loss for what to say. It was Sam that finally spoke, "Did Dad know?"
